Sound Transit: What you'll pay, what you'll get

Passage of Proposition 1 means the sales tax will increase Jan. 1 in urban areas of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. It will pay for $17.9 billion in train and bus improvements, including 34 miles of light-rail extensions. Construction is scheduled to be done by 2023, while the higher tax likely will last until at least 2038.

The new money will expand the light-rail system that has already been approved by voters. The first phase, from downtown Seattle to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, is set to open late next year. Existing taxes will pay for that route, as well as a tunnel to Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium that will open in 2016. Sounder train service between Tacoma and Lakewood, Pierce County, also funded by existing sales and car-tab taxes, is expected to start by 2012.

REPORTING BY MIKE LINDBLOM, GRAPHIC BY MARK NOWLIN / THE SEATTLE TIMES